Railway dumping-car.



PATENTED JUN 4; 1907.

E. I. DODDS. RAILWAY DUMPING UAR APPLIOATION FILED MAY 26. 1906.

L T E E E A S T E E H S 9 PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907. E. I. DODDS. RAILWAY DUMPING GAR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, 1906.

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O G O O 0 IL. 1 l l l I! rhea PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907. E. I. DODDS.

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RAILWAY DUMPING GAR. APPLICATION FILED Mn 26; 1906.

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PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907.

E. I. DODDS. RAILWAY DUMPING GAR APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1906.

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PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907.

' E. I. DODDS.

RAILWAY DUMPING GAR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26, 1906.

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E. I. 'nonns.

RAILWAY DUMPING GAR.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 26. 1908.

9 SHEETS-SHEET 6-- PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907.

E. I. DODDS.

RAILWAY DUMPING CAR.

9 SHEETS-SHEET 7.

APPLIOATION FILED MAY 26. 1906.

PATENTED JUNE 4, 11907. E. I. DODDS. RAILWAY DUMPINGVGAR APPLICATION FILED MAY 26 9 SHEETS-SHEET 8.

PATENTED JUNE 4, 1907. E. I. DODDS.

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RAILWAY DUMPING CAR. APPLIOATION FILED MAY 26. 1906.

' car having hinged floor sections or load discitizen of the United States, residing at Pullandwith more certainty and satisfaction. j The shaft which I employ is preferably removed from the shaft with facility. Pref- -are employed for the car since I have found UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ETHAN I. I)ODDS, OF PULLMAN, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO. THE PULLIIAN COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, A CORPORATION OF ILLINOIS.

RAILWAY DUMPlNG-CAR.

' Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 4, 1907.

Application filed May 26,1906. 'Serial No. 318,955.

To ztZZ whom it'inaly concern:

Be it known that I, ETHAN I-.'Do1)Ds, a

man, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Dumping-Cars, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a railway dumping charging doors, and more particularly concerns improvements in the mechanism for lowering or raising or opening or closing these doors. Heretofore there has been employed in this art a shaft adapted to travel transversely of the car beneath the doors to operate the same, the shaft'being equipped with pinions co-acting withstationary racks below the shaft, but with these cars there has been a considerable tendency for the coal or other lading to fall and lodge upon these racks thereby interfering with the rolling of the pinions thereon. To overcome this diflicultyin my improved construction I have placed theracks above the pinionsor gears so that no obstruction can rest thereon, con-- sequently the door operating means acts more freely, with less expenditure of effort,

cranked, the doors resting upon the offset portions so that a wide opening of the doors may be effected, and for the pinions or gears I use split ones which may be applied to and erably at the end of the car there is provided any suitable means for causing the shaft to turn, and as it thus rotates it'is compelled to travel toward or from the side of the car on suitable supports because of the cooperation between the pinions and their racks. This turning of the shaft also raises or lowers the cranked parts of the shaft on which the doors rest so that the closing or opening of the latter is easily efi'eeted. To supportthis shaft and attached parts I provide a number of brackets or beams upon parts of which rollers on the shaft travel and on which the weight of the doors and load rests so that no weight presses upon the gears or racks. In one form of my invention no body bolsters that they may be readily dispensed with and in such ears, as well as in those of the usual type, that portion of the lead over the trucks 1 is discharged without difficulty and without falling upon the trucks.

In the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification, I have iilus- Fig. 3 is an enlarged cross-section of a portion of the car illustrating in detail the means for raising and lowering Ell dumping doors; Fig. 4 IS a View of the under side of one of the members which support the door actuatin shaft, shown in Fig. 3; 'Fig. 5 is an enlarged partial side elevation and partial lengthwise section of a part of the gear showing clearly the construction of the details thereof; Fig. 6 is a vertical cross-seotion of the car, the right hand part being on line 66 of Fig. 5 and the left hand part on line 66 of Fig. 5 on a reduced scale; Fig. 7 is a partial end elevation and partial cross-section of the car illustrating the means forturning the shaft controllin the opening zJld closing of the dumping doors Fig. 8 is a fragmentary crosssection of a car equipped with a modified type of door operating mechanism showing the door in open position in dotted lines; Fig. 9 is a' cross-section of the construction shown in Fig. 8 on line 99; F igf 10 is a side elevation of a part of a car embodying a modified form of 'my invention, said car having no body bolsters; Fig. IL is a cross-section of a part of'a car equipped with another modified form of door actuating means; and Fig. 12 is a crosssection of the construction shown in Fig. 11 on the line 12l2 as viewed 'in' the direction indicated b r the arrows and illustrates the pinion in e evation.

The car shown in Figs. 1 to 7 inclusive hasthe usual channel center sills 15, spaced apart as is customary, their upper flanges being riveted to a top or cover plate 16 extending by rivets 18 [Fi 3] and to the top flanges of the center sil s by the same rivets, and they are preferably grouped in pairs, as shown in Figs. 2 -and 5, and spaced apart sufficiently to accommodate the inwardly extended flanges or ribs 19 of the side stakes together with filler blocks 20. These side stakes are shown on the drawings as T-shaped in cross-section and have their oppositely and 5.

extended flanges 21 riveted to the web 22 of the adjacent channel side sill. The connection between these side stakes and the cross bearers is preferably by means of rivets 23 passing through the ribs 19 of the stakes and also through the filler blocks 20. Each pair of cross bearers 17 has a top floor plate 24, running preferably the full width of the car, riveted to their upper marginal flanges, which will be apparent from an inspection of Figs. 2 Between these plates 24 are disposed a plurality of hinged floor sections or doors 25 pivoted or hinged in any convenient manner above the center sills at 26, a central longitudinal plate or board 27 being provided which extends substantially the fulllength'; of the car and is equipped on each side with a plate 28 adapted to overlap the inner edges of the dumping. doors. Each door has on its lower surface two angle bars 29 extending transversely of the car, and to which. the planks or floor boards are bolted or riveted as at 30. The outer edges of these dumping doors in their closed position preferably extend beneath and contact with the bottom flanges of the side sills of the car thereby limiting their upward movement. The un der side of each door 25 is also supplied with a pair of tracks or wearin plates 31 on the under side of which trave wheels or rollers mounted on the actuating shaft mentioned and described hereinafter.

Beneatheach cross bearer or bolster and on each side of the pair of center sills is a bracket or beam 32 to support the door op crating shaft. Each one of these supports or brackets has flan es along its top and bottom edges and also on its inner edge. Its top flanges 32 are secured to the bottom flanges of the cross-bearer channels 17 by "mum. amount of metal The arallel webs 35, of t rivets 32*, --while its inner end flanges 32 are'attached to the web of the adjacent center sill by rivets 33. These supports or brackets are preferably cast integral, each having an'integral rack 34 near its upper part disposed between the two webs 35 w .ich

merge into the' single web 36 as they extend toward the center of the car, the latter dividing into a pair of parallel webs 37- adjacent to the center sill. By employing a construction of this character I secure a maximum amount of strength with a rhini- 1properly disposed.

e several supports 32,h ve alined slots 38 provided with margi-- nal flanges 39 on which travel rollers 40 on a the shaft.

rollers or wheels 43 retained in osition on the shaft by collars 44. These ro lers 43 are be.-

neath the wearing plates 31 upon which they cranked shaft 41 the offset portions 42 of which are each provided with a,pair of split travel and sustain the door above in open or closed position as the case may be. Between each pair of rollers 40 and disposed witlun the bracket or beam 32 which supports the shaft is a gear or pinion 45 fixed to the shaft to turn therewith'but readily removable therefrom, the teeth of said gear meshin with the downwardly projecting teeth 0 rack 34, as shown most clearly in Fig. 3. It is to be understood that in order to secure a uniform movement of the shaft 1 provide one of these pinions and racks between each Gear 45.

cross bearer and body bolster. has two lugs or projections 46 integral therewith and spaced apart a distance approximately equal to the diameter -ofshaft 41,

while the central part of the gear has a cylindrical aperture the same diameter as the shaft, said aperture communicat ng with.

the space between the ears or lugs 46.

Those portions of the shaft supplied with one of these pinions or gears are flattened at 47 (Fig. 3) and against this flat surface presses .the square end of a filler block or key 48 adapted to fit between the ears 46 with its inner end abutting "against the flat part of the shaft. To retain the parts in position-a bolt 49 is passed through holes in the ears 46 and the filler block or key 48 whereby the gear is compelled to rotate with racks 'and remain thereon to impede the travel of the pinions.

It should be noted that in this construction the weight of the doors and At one or both ends of the car I provide a comparatively long worm 5O rotatably mounted "in suitable bearings 51 (Fig. 7). The outer end of the shaft bearin the worm 50 has an angular head 52 to whic a wrench or crank may be easily applied to turn the worm, the latter meshing with a worm wheel 53 fixed to shaft 41. In the drawings I have shown this lattershaft'41 as extendin the whole length of the car, but to those skilled in the art it is obvious that the same may be divided into sections if such a construction is found to be desirable.

The operation of the device is as follows: Let us assume that the car is loaded with any form of lading such, for example, as coal or gravel with the 'doors in horizontal or closed position and the shaft 41 at the outer ends of slots 38 with the cranked portions 42 at their highest elevation retaining the doors closed by means of their rollers 43 pressing against the under surface of the bearing plates or tracks 31. In order to drop the doors so that the lading may be discharged a crank or other turning means is applied to the end 52 of the worm shaft and the worm 50 turned so as to rotate the shaft 41* through its worm wheel 53. As shaft 41 revloves it is compelled to travel bodily inwardly toward the.

center of the car because of the co-operation of gears 45 with their stationary or fixed racks 34. As the shaft thus moves inwardly the rollers 40 rolling on the lower margins of slots 38, the crank portions thereof are lowered thereby permitting the doors to drop to discharge the load. It will be noted that worm is substantially as long as slot 38 so that worm wheel 53 is always in mesh therewith regardless of its position. To elevate the oifset portions of the shaft so as to close the floor doors the worm is turned in the reverse direction whereupon the shaft rolls outwardly toward the side of the car and the cranked portions thereof are raised to close the doors.

If it becomes desirable to remove any of the gears 45 from shaft 41 or to remove the shaft itself from the underframe of the car.

this may be readily accomplished by sliding the rollers 40 [which are curved inside as shown in Fig. 5 lengthwise the shaft away from the supports '32 whereupon the shaft is lowered si'i'flicien'tly to bring the teeth of the gears out of mesh with their racks, and by removingthe bolts 49 and keys or blocks 48 the gears may be slid-off from the shaft laterally. By turning the shaft so that its cranked portions pass through the slots 38,

the whole shaft may be removed lengthwise irom its supports provided-the split-rollers 43 have been removed. It is to be understood that the turns in the shaft are rounded so that the rollers. 40 and collars 44 may be threaded or put on to the shaft from one end.

In Figs. 8 and 9 I have illustrated a modified form of support for the door operating shaft wherein the support consists of two slightly tapered pressed-steel members .54, each of which has a top flange 55 projecting outwardly and a bottom flange 56 similarly disposed. The top flanges of members 54, as shown in the previous instance; are riveted to .the lower flange of the cross bearers or flying transoms, and the inner end flanges 57 are similarly riveted to the webs of the channel center sills These pressed members 54 are properly spaced apart by filler blocks 58 placed between them and fastened to them by rivets 59. Each member 54 has a longi tudinal slot 60 with an outwardly extended marginal flange 61 and between the two members 54 is fastened a rack 62 held in place by rivets 63 passing therethrough and through the side members of the support.

. body bolsters.

, the central part of the truck.

'trally over the truck and when it is dropped The operation of this mechanism is apparent so that further description thereof appears to be unnecessary, the object of this illustration and description being to set forth the man ner in which the shaft supports could be made of pressed metal members.

The peculiarity of the modificationshown in Fig. 11) lies in the ,fact that the car has no In other words it has no transverse beams above the central part of the trucks. I have found-from computation and by experiment that the car does not require body bolsters, and it becomes an advantage to eliminate them in a car of this class because that portion of the load above the truck can be more easily discharged without falling upon the truck than in cars equipped with body bolsters. In this modification the crossbearers and shaft supports are placed so that none of them come above Iii-this type of car the upper center bearing plate 64 is attached directly to the lower flanges of the center sills while the adjacent cross bearers are so disposed that a door is arranged cenit slides the load out sidewise over the truck none of the lading falling thereon.

A still further modification is set forth in Figs. 11 and 12, this type of car having the advantage of being able to remove one or more of the'pinions or gears from the shaft without lowering'the latter by sliding sidwise the. rollers which travel on the supports. In cross-section the shaft support 65 is substantially I-shaped having a central vertical web 66 and top and bottom flanges 67 and 68, while at its inner end it has lateral flanges 69 riveted to the webs of the center sills. The web 66 of this shaft support has a longitudinal slot 70 flanged along its lower margin and open at its outer end except when closed by a removable cap71 fastened to the end of the support by screws or bolts 72. On the under side of one of the top flanges 67 this support has an integral rack 73 with downwardly projecting teeth as in the other styles of support. Meshing with the teeth'of this rack is a gear 45 in all respects like that described in con nection with the other types of car. The

crank shaft 41 in this instance has a single roller 42 adapted to travel on the lower margin of slot 70 and when it becomes desirable to remove the gear 45 from the shaft and underframe the bolt 49 and the filler block or key 48 are removed so that the gear may he slid lengthwise the shaft sufficiently to disengage its! teeth from those of the rack at .which time it can be removed from the shaft laterally, as will be apparent on an inspection of the drawing.

While I have illustrated and described in this application several styles of cars and several embodiments of my invention it is to be understood that' many other modifications 1. In a railway car having-a hinged dumping door, a door operating mechanism comprising the combination of a support, a shaft mounted to' move bodily on said support from and .toward thehinges of said door to open and close the same, a gear on said shaft,

; a stationary rack above the axis of said shaft was with which the teeth of said gear mesh, and means to turn said shaft to cause it to revolve and travel toward or from the hinges of the a ing door, ,a door operating mechanism comdoor, substantially-as described.

2. In a railway car having a hinged dumping door, a door operating mechanism comprising the combination of a support, a shaft mounted to move bodily on said support from and toward the hinge of said door to open and close the same, a gear on said shaft, a rack above said gear with which the teeth of the latter mesh, and means to turn said shaft to cause it to revolve and travel toward or from the hinge of the door, substantially as described.

3.- In a railway car having a hinged dump prising the combination of a support, a shaft,

one or more rollers on-said shaft adapted to travel on said support, said shaft bein bodily movable on said support to open an close said door, a gear on said shaft, a rack above said gear with which the teeth of the latter mesh, and means to turn said shaft, substantially as described.

4. In a railway car having a hinged dumpin door, a door-operating mechanism comprising the combination of a car underframe havin slotted supporting members, a shaft exten ed through said slots and bodily movable lengthwise said slots to open and close said door, a-gear fixed on said shaft, a stationary rackabove said gear with which the teeth of said'gear mesh, and means to turn said shaft, substantially as described.

'5. In a railway car having a hinged dumpin door, a door operatin mechanism compr] sin the combination 0% a car underframe, a cran ed shaft mounted on said underframe and adapted to move bodily toward and from the hinge of said door, the offset or cranked portion of said shaft being adapted to engage-and open and close said door, a gear on said shaft, a rack mounted on said underframe above said gear, the teeth of said gear and rack co-operating, and means to turn said shaft, substantially as described.

6. Ina railway car having a hinged dumping floor door, the combination of a car under frame having a plurality of slotted shaftsupporting members, a shaft extended support for said worm wheel, substantially as described.

through said slots and adapted to move bodilylengthwisesaid slots, said shaft'having a cranked or offset portion to engage the underside of said door and control its open ing and closing, rollers on said shaft adapted .to travel on the margins of said slots, a gear on said shaft, a rack fixed on said underframe above said gear, the teeth of said gear and rack co-operatin and means to turn said shaft, substantialIy as described;

7. In a railway car, the combination of a hinged dumping door, a shaft, a support for said shaft permitting bodily movement. thereof toward and from the hinge of said door, a I stationary rack, a gear mounted' on said shaft'to turn 'therewith, the teeth "thereof meshing with those of said rack, a ,worm wheel on said shaft, and a worm to turn said worm wheel and shaft, substantially as described. I

- 8. In a railway car having a hinged loaddischar ing door, the combination of a 'cranke shaft, the cranked or offset portion thereof engaging theunder surface of said door and sustaining the weight thereof a shaft permitting bodily movement thereof toward and from the hin es of said door, a gear mounted on said sha t to turn therewith, a stationary rack, the teeth of saidgear and rack meshing with" each other, a worm wheel fixed to said shaft, and an operating worm meshing with said 9. In a railway car having a hinged loaddischarging door, the combination of a.' cranked shaft, the cranked or oflset portion thereof being below and bearing theweight of said door and the load above it, slotted supports for said shaft permitting bodily;

movement thereof toward and from the hinges of said door, a gear on said shaft rotatable therewith, a stationary rack above said gear, the teeth of said gear and rack meshing together, a worm wheel fixed to said shaft, and a worm rotatably mounted on the car meshing with said worm wheel and ada ted to rotate the same duringthe whole 0 its bodily movement, substantially as described.

. 10. In a railway car, the combination of a shaft, a split gear adapted to be fixed to said shaft, said gear having a pair of s aced ears or lugs'and a central aperture of Sn stantially the same diameter as the shaft, the space between said lugs also bbirlg substantially equal to the diameter of said'shaft and communicating with said central a erture whereby said' gear may be attache to said shaft without removing the latter from its bearings, a filler block adapted to be placed between said ears or lugs, and a bolt adapted to pass through said in s and filler block to fasten said gear to said shaft, substantially as de scribed. I

11. In a railway car, the combination of a shaft, a split gear adapted to be fixed to said shaft, said ear having a pair of s .aced ears or lugs and a central aperture 0 substantially the same diameter as said shaft, the space between said lugs also being substantially equal to the diameter of said shaft and communicatin with said aperture whereby said gear may e attached to said shaft Without removing the latter from its bearings, a filler block with an inner flat end ada ted-to be placed between said lugs, said sha t bein flattened at one side for the engagement 0% the fiat end of said filler block, and a bolt adapted to pass through saidears or lugs and filler block to. fasten said gear to said shaft, substantially as described.

. 12. A support for a door operating shaft.

of a railway car, coniprismg two spaced slotted'members connected together, and'a rack between said members, substantailly as described.

13. A-cast metal support for a door-operating shaft ofa railway car having top and bottom marginal flanges, two spaced slotted Webs at one end of said support which merge into a single web, as they extend toward the opposite end ofsaid support, said single web .bemg divided into two other spaced webs at v the sup ort, and -a rack between said s aced slotted the other end of Webs, substantially ETHAN' I. nonns. Witnesses:

:REDERiOK vC. GooDwIN, :VALTEB M. FULLER.

as describe 

